Regolith is a layer of loosely packed fragmented particles and prevalent in space. Regolith overlays airless, rocky planets such as the Moon and Mercury. For small bodies, in many cases, asteroids are made of piles of regolith, while comets are loosely packed mixtures of regolith and ice. Recently, these planetary bodies are the main targets of spaceflight explorations not only for science missions but also for resource utilization (using materials in space) and planetary defense (effectively redirecting hazardous objects approaching the Earth). The behavior of regolith, therefore, is a critical, but unsolved, issue that gives clues on the necessary technologies for future spaceflight explorations.
Developing engineering and scientific analysis approaches, the author has been studying how regolith behaves in small bodies and on the Moon. For small bodies, the author has used dynamics and finite element model (FEM) approaches to characterize the orbital motion and shape deformation of these bodies. These studies currently play significant roles in giving strong insights into the shape evolution processes of asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, the target asteroids of JAXA/Hayabusa2 and NASA/OSIRIS-REx, respectively. Also, the analysis technique is applied to the asteroid deflection capability assessment on NASA/DART. For the Moon, the author has contributed to a better understanding of how regolith has statistically evolved due to impact cratering processes. Using this experience, he is currently leading research projects to analyze the distribution of water ice in the lunar south pole region to assess the accessibility to sample it.
The talk will provide a summary of the author’s recent research contributions, as well as future projects and collaborations that can expand earlier work to bridge engineering and planetary science. It will also discuss how ongoing spaceflight exploration missions can offer educational and outreach opportunities for students to learn space technologies and sciences.
